Street realignment project nears completion

Third Avenue has been realigned to intersect better with First Street, Broad Street and Neuse Boulevard.

Bill Hand/Sun Journal

By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Monday, September 23, 2013 at 07:21 PM.

An improved street in the Five Points area will open up access to Cedar Street and the Duffyfield community, perhaps by the end of the week.

The paving, curb and guttering and realignment of Third Avenue with First Street is complete except for the striping and the installation of signal lights at the intersection with Broad Street.

Jordan Hughes, city engineer, said the N.C. Department of Transportation will paint stripes at the entrance of Third Avenue this week and install temporary signs until new traffic signals can be installed by the end of October.

“We are just wrapping up now,” Hughes said.

Only residents of Third Avenue are now using the new road, but it could be opened to all traffic by the end of the week, Hughes said.

The realignment of Third Avenue with First Street began in the April in an effort to provide better access to the Five Points and Duffyfield communities for travelers coming off U.S. 70.

“The biggest change to the street is that it will now accommodate two-way traffic,” Hughes said. “Historically it has been a one-way street. Before, it was just an exit only onto Broad Street.”

An improved street in the Five Points area will open up access to Cedar Street and the Duffyfield community, perhaps by the end of the week.

The paving, curb and guttering and realignment of Third Avenue with First Street is complete except for the striping and the installation of signal lights at the intersection with Broad Street.

Jordan Hughes, city engineer, said the N.C. Department of Transportation will paint stripes at the entrance of Third Avenue this week and install temporary signs until new traffic signals can be installed by the end of October.

“We are just wrapping up now,” Hughes said.

Only residents of Third Avenue are now using the new road, but it could be opened to all traffic by the end of the week, Hughes said.

The realignment of Third Avenue with First Street began in the April in an effort to provide better access to the Five Points and Duffyfield communities for travelers coming off U.S. 70.

“The biggest change to the street is that it will now accommodate two-way traffic,” Hughes said. “Historically it has been a one-way street. Before, it was just an exit only onto Broad Street.”

All of the work is being done as part of a Community Development Block Grant program that has revitalized many utilities and streets along the Broad Street corridor into the city.

In April, Sue Steinhauser of Development Services said the city received a $1 million CDBG grant in 2010 to acquire 22 dilapidated and abandoned houses that were demolished for the realignment and to rehabilitate houses and areas on the east side of the street.

Besides the demolition of the old houses, the city upgraded the water and sewer system to meet state standards. The old water and sewer system dates back to the 1950s.

When the realignment cut was made, some utility poles were in the middle of the new section and had to be relocated.

New Bern Parks and Recreation has provided a new landscaped around the entrance to Third Avenue. Hughes said in the future a “Welcome to New Bern” sign will be installed.

“Everything went as we expected,” Hughes said. “It will be a more convenient way to get in and out of that street. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we will be able to open it.”

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at eddie.fitzgerald@newbernsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.